Day 1--Book 1/501Welcome to the Thin Skin of Culture!
General Musings: My arbitrary goal is to struggle through as many films, plays, operas, novels, and non-fiction books, in one lifetime as possible. Join me in the frenetic, shallow, and obsessive goal of becoming a postmodern polymath.
Are you with me? Excited? Overwhelmed? Set your own pace and feel free to cheat, skim, and borrow from my blog as much as you like. This isn't Oprah's Book Club and I am not interested in making this Pygmalion--you're intelligent enough to know when to join in and when to take a pass--just make sure to read the blog.
In terms of books, 501 Must Read Books is our arbitrary reading list for the next 501 days (soon to be followed by 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die). Films, operas, and other arts will spin-off of our reading lists. Every day a new book for the five years. Lets get started shall we?
Today's book (thriller): Michael Dibdin's Vendetta
Michael Dibdin was an Irish crime writer of unusual ability and command of his genre. He studied for his master's degree at University of Alberta (go Golden Bears) after graduating from Sussex University. Although he isn't a household name he is one of those writers that the TLS adored and he won the Golden Dagger back in 1988 for his mystery Ratking. Sadly, Dibdin died a couple of years ago in rainy Seattle. Vendetta is the second in the award winning Aurelio Zen series and it is funny, dark, and intense. Inspector Zen is with the Criminalpol section of the Ministry of the Interior in Italy. His senile mother lives with him, his coworkers are corrupt and malicious, and he is being hunted by a psychopath-- and that is just background! The plot: millionaire Oscar Burolo along with his wife and guests are massacred at his retreat in Sardinia. Burolo has friends (and enemies) in high places and the political machinations of the Ministry tap Zen, widely and incorrectly believed to be crooked, to frame a suitable suspect. Our favorite Roman inspector does one better and dares to solve the crime. A fun well written mystery that makes me want to read the rest of the Zen series (I've only read three of the eleven). If I didn't have my next five years booked I'd be reading them right now.
Grade: B+
Segues: Vendetta is the only Dibdin novel on our lists so you are out of luck for the next five years but I recommend his The Last Sherlock Holmes Story and Thanksgiving--both are intelligent and sublime.
If you love the idea of a blood feud between parties in the old bloody Eumenides style check out V for Vendetta for Guy Fawkesing action (hmmm... that's not really what I meant). Originally a graphic novel from comic god Alan Moore it was adapted to the screen back in 2006 by the Wachowski brothers (of Matrix fame). The 1812 overture never sounded so explosive as the climactic scene in the film and better yet you get to see Natalie Portman naked (if only her head).
Tomorrow's book (Children's Fiction): Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2/501)
